IEEE Referencing – The IEEE is a leading research and development institution. With more than 580000 patent citations received by IEEE journals, standards and conference proceedings, top patenting organisations refer to IEEE for verification and standardisation. The organisation’s credibility and reliability are significant reasons it is a globally recognised accreditor in electrical, electronics, and computer engineering. So much so that IEEE has its referencing style!
Researchers looking to submit their work to the IEEE must follow the organisation’s referencing format precisely. This guide offers an informative overview of the IEEE referencing style for anyone looking to learn more.
The IEEE Style
The IEEE referencingstyle is generally followed for computer & electronics research papers.
References in Text
In-text references in the IEEE referencing style are numbers in square brackets within the punctuation. Writers should treat them as footnote numbers.
Here are some examples:
as shown by Brown [4], [5]; as mentioned earlier [2], [4]-[7]; Smith [4]
Note that there should be a space before all the square brackets.
- One thing to note is that writers should use et al. when there are three or more names for given references cited in the text. Citations are numbered in order of their appearance. Readers should be able to find the correct source in the reference list at the end of the work.
- Once a particular source has been cited, the same number is used for all subsequent citations in the text.
Page numbers need to be mentioned when something is directly quoted or when it’s necessary to refer to a specific part of the source. The in-text citation would then look something like this à[1, p.3]. Check this – How to study perfectly through technology?
Reference List
In the end, there needs to be a list of all the works cited within the text. There needs to be a heading named References, and all cited works must be presented in a numerically ascending order. All IEEE papers must follow proper formatting guidelines, and the reference list must be clear enough for anyone to locate the cited sources.
In the IEEE referencing style, the reference list must be formatted in the following manner:
- Left alignment
- Single space for each entry and double space for every new entry
- Numbers to be placed at the left margin and enclosed in square brackets
- All text entries must be indented
Examples of Common Reference List Entries
Below are examples of the most common document types cited in IEEE papers.
- Books à[Ref Number] Author’s Initials, Author’s Surname Book Title, edition (if not first). Place of Publication; Publisher, Year.
- Book Chapter à[Ref Number] Author’s Initials, Author’s Surname, “Title of the book chapter”, in Book Title, edition. Editor’s Initials, Editor’s Surname, Ed. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year, page numbers
- E-book à[Ref Number] Author’s Initials, Author’s Surname. (Year, Month, Day). Book Title (edition) [Type of medium]. Available: URL
- Journal Article à[Ref Number] Author’s Initials, Author’s Surname, “Title of article”, Title of the journal abbreviated in italics, volume number, issue number, page numbers, Abbreviated Month Year
- Conference Papers à[Ref Number[ Author’s Initials, Authors’ Surname, “Title of the paper”, in the name of the Conference, Location, Year, pp. xxx.
- Patents à[Ref Number] Author’s Initials, Author’s Surname, ”Title of the Patent”, Country where the patent has been filed or registered, Patent Number, Abbreviated Month Day Year
- Websites à[Ref Number] Author’s Initials, Author’s Surname. (Year Month Day). Title of web page [Online] Available UR
And that’s all the space we have for today. Hope this write-up acts as a quick reference for anyone using the IEEE referencing style. All the best!
Summary: IEEE citation generator style is commonly used for technical research papers. If you need a quick recap of the rules, this article can help. It offers an overview of the essentials.
Author-Bio: Alley John is a computer science and engineering professor from a leading university in Australia. An IEEE member, he is also a part-time writer with MyAssignmenthelp.com.


